L-1 Intra Company Visa

GetMeAVisa are highly experienced with the transferral of employees to the United States of America using the L-1 visa. The category L-1 Visas is granted to intra-company transferees, who are people which are employed abroad and are being transferred to a branch, subsidiary affiliate or joint venture partner of the same company in the US (it can be a US or foreign company).

It is important to note that there are certain requirements that the company must fulfill in order to be eligible for the L-1 Visa Process. The subsidiary is defined as a company (or corporation or other legal entity) of which has a parent that owns and controls over half of that particular entity. It may also own 50 percent of a 50-50 joint venture which has equal control and veto power over this entity. It may also include an entity where the parent owns less than 50 percent, but does have control over the entity in question.

An L-1 visa can be obtained for a start-up business in the U.S. For legal and tax reasons, it could be a better solution to instead establish a U.S. corporation rather than opting for an American branch. It would be advised to contact our company to discuss such legal issues if you are considering taking such steps.

An L-1 visa is also the appropriate visa classification for a qualified employee of an international company who is entering America to establish a parent, branch, affiliate or subsidiary, in other words, to commence business. The company is required to show that premises which will house the new business have been secured. And from one year of date of approval of the L-1 visa petition, the intended U.S. operation will support an executive or managerial position.

If the person is being transferred due to ‘specialized knowledge’ the petitioner would be required to show that it has the ability (financially) ability to afford the salary of the beneficiary (the member of staff who is transferring using the L-1 visa) and to start doing business in the U.S.

You must have served in a managerial or executive capacity (L-1A) or possess specialized knowledge (L-1B) necessary to the US business, and be transferred to a position within the US company at one of these levels, although it is not necessarily to be placed in the same position as held previously. You must also have been employed outside the US by the international company continuously for at least one year in the three years immediately preceding the application.

Multinational corporations can benefit from a ‘blanket’ L-1 Rule. With this L-1 blanket transfer the corporation would not be required to file an individual petition each time they need to transfer employees to the U.S. The blanket petition provision is reserved for relatively large established companies and is only available to managers, executives and specialized knowledge professionals who will be based in an already established American office.

International Executive (L-1A)

To qualify for the L-1A category visa, the employee must meet the following requirements:

direct the management of the organization or a major component or function;

establish the goals and policies of the organization, component or function;

exercise wide latitude in discretionary decision-making;

receive only general supervision or direction from higher-level executives, the board of directors or stockholders of the organization.

International Manager

To qualify for this category of L1 visa, the employee must meet the following requirements:

Manage the organization or department, subdivision, function or component of the organization;

Supervise and control the work of other supervisory, professional or managerial employees, or manage an essential function within the organization, or a department or subdivision of the organization;

Have the authority to hire and fire, or recommend hire/fire and other personnel actions (such as promotion and leave authorization), or if no employees are directly supervised, function at a senior level within the supervised, function at a senior level within the organizational hierarchy or with respect to the function managed;

Exercise discretion over the day-to-day operations of the activity or function for which the employee has authority.

Specialized Knowledge Transferee (L-1B)

To qualify for the US L-1B Visa, the employee must possess knowledge of the company products and their application in international markets or have an advanced level of knowledge of processes and procedures of the company. An employee has specialized knowledge if it’s different from that generally found in the particular industry. Possible characteristics of an employee who possesses specialized knowledge include:

Knowledge that’s valuable to the employer’s competitiveness in the market place;

Knowledge of foreign operating conditions as a result of special knowledge not generally found in the industry;

Experience of working abroad in a capacity involving significant assignments which have enhanced the employer’s productivity, competitiveness, image or financial position;

Knowledge which normally can be gained only through prior experience with that employer;

Knowledge of a product or process which cannot be easily transferred or taught to another individual.

A ‘subsidiary’ is defined as a company, corporation or other legal entity of which a parent owns (directly or indirectly) over half the entity and controls the entity, or owns (directly or indirectly) 50 percent of a 50-50 joint venture (with equal control). It may also include an entity where the parent owns less than half of it, but in fact controls the entity.

Obtaining assistance with the L-1 Transfer Visa Application Process

Please use the contact us form to the right of this page, or call us on 0207 0784 127 and we will be able to fully assist you with all aspects of the US L-1 visa, including detailed consultation and full assistance with the visa application. We have been in business over ten years helping people solely with US immigration, and with our excellent success rate and client communication you can be assured the best chances of success possible.

Note, we also offer discount rates if your company requires blanket transfers, call us and ask for more details!

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